Four albums with the Wu Tang Clan, two with Redman, two alone, various film roles and soundtracks, and six long years in hip hop since his last solo LP, and now Tical 0: The Prequel is the new album from Method Man. One wonders, with this long awaited album, if Clifford Smith will save ‘the continuing Wu Tang saga’ which seems to be loosing impetus?
The Prequel has been released upon a musical topography that exists mostlyl because of what happened ten years ago. His first solo outing, Tical (1994), was produced by the RZA and the collaboration worked like a Swiss wristwatch, resulting in a stunning, dark, expressive, sensual album. The follow- up, Tical 2000: Judgement Day, was less worthy but still good.
Perhaps Method Man meant a kind of back-to-basics paradigm in the title, but The Prequel is more regression than new precedent. The ingredients that made such a smooth and consistent mixture have been skewed. He has called in a different producer for almost each of the 17 tracks (The RZA, Rockwilder, Rick Rock…) and collaborates with a vocalist on all but four, which really blurs the album’s focus. Even the track with Redman and Snoop is disappointingly generic, and in all this time he’s still talking about little but booty and grass.
The Prequel is a good album if you discount what Method Man is capable of. ‘What’s Happenin’’ (the single featuring Busta Rhymes) is a wicked summer jam, ‘Who Ya Rollin’ Wit’ shows Clifford and his crew may have been listening to some more edgy, electronic stuff, and ‘Afterparty’ (featuring Ghostface) makes for lovely humid hip-hop.
Tical O: The Prequel is more difficult to define than his previous work, mostly sample-based too, and certainly lighter.
Diehards be warned.